Monday, September 29, 2014

Book Review: The Original’s Return by David Watkins

ISBN: 978-1499280296eBook: June 3, 2013. Print: June 6, 2014)“He’s tearing him apart! Help us, please, God help us!” Sergeant Peter Knowles has seen it all: in Afghanistan he witnessed death on a level that no-one should walk away from. Returning to Britain, he jumps at the chance to lead a small team in Devon. The task sounds more like a holiday; exactly what Knowles and his men need. The mission: watch Jack Stadler. When the first dismembered body is found, Knowles begins to realize he has made a terrible mistake.

Jack Stadler is your typical ordinary man. He has a wife soon to give birth, is a teacher, and tries to keep in shape by running with his dog, Ginny. He loses sight of Ginny and finds her acting spooked, but in a hurry, he continues running. Suddenly, the ground gives way beneath him and he falls. Waking up later, he finds an animal bone impaling him, but there is no pain. When he yanks it free, he discovers no wound or any kind of break in his skin. He is in a cave with a stone slab with carvings, more bones of the animal, but no skull, and in a nearby dark tunnel, there are spiders that appear as he heads into it, but retreat when he heads back to where the bones are.

His phone broke in his fall, but lucky for him, someone finds the hole and gets him help, just in time for him to see the birth of his son, Josh. After leaving his wife and child at the hospital, he goes to play his guitar and drink wine. He loses consciousness and wakes up the next morning naked, his guitar in pieces, and the back door wide open. The fall down the rabbit hole doesn't stop there. He finds his dog outside, blood covering her snout and growling at him, and one of his farmer neighbor’s sheep ripped apart, eaten.

Great horror! I couldn't put the book down, not until I finished it. Jack falls down a rabbit hole of terror and finds that his life has shifted and will never be ordinary again. Worse, there are others who want him and what he has become, the British military, and a race of modern werewolves who feel that he is one of the Originals responsible for their existence. I cannot wait for the next book as the ending lays promise to that.

David Watkins' bio:David Watkins lives in Devon in the UK with his wife and two sons. He teaches Maths to teenagers by day and writes whenever the day job allows (ie not often enough). He has avidly read horror books since his teenage years and it remains a feature of the novels and stories he writes. The Original's Return is his first novel and he is currently editing his second novel whilst simultaneously writing a follow up to The Original's Return. He has published a short story "Presents of Mind" in the collection "When Red Snow Melts", which also features two stories by best-selling author Joe R. Lansdale.